Hi everyone,

I am planning to change my (BMD) London's diet from dry to raw food next year. Any sugestions on how to start? I heard that I should feed him one meal raw and the other dry but not mixed, is that correct? Let me know your thoughts.

Cheers,
Miss London & London

There really is no right or wrong way. Many people say not to feed raw with dry due to different digestion rates, but I know plenty who feed this way with no problems - me being one of them! In the "good ol' days" a dogs diet was basically meat and biscuit and nobody seemed to worry then.

If you intend to cut out the dry completely I would just add some raw to the dry and gradually increase the raw whilst decreasing the dry.

If I am feeding a "bone" meal (usually lamb ribs) I don't feed any kibble at that meal, although I do sometimes add a bit extra raw mince if the bone is too boney. Other than that most meals are raw minced meat/tripe/fish etc with a small handful of Orijen.

HTH Karen

Hi
When I switched to raw 2 years ago now I went with the one day complete, next day raw routine.  I read Dr Billinghursts The Barf Diet and he said you could do it slowly or straight away so I went for the straight away.  Had no problems atall so I guess its upto you.  Good move switching onto raw, you will notice a difference very quickly with coat, general health and much more. :-)

I did the same, cold turkey, no pun intended lol
Once his kibble was done, I was feeding raw. Chicken portions without the skin.
After he was adjusted to that I introduced another protein source ie beef...

I agree, there is no right or wrong way of doing it really. I have never really believed that you shouldn't mix raw with complete. When we switched on to raw, we started by given them a chicken wing a day - separate to there main meal, and of course slightly reducing the amount of complete they had. Once they were used to eating raw meat (our male thought raw chicken wings were a very strange food indeed!) we started added minced chicken to their complete food. We then gradually reduced the amount of complete they were having and introduced other raw meats. They are now entirely raw fed and it's the best thing we have ever done. Ours love all kinds of raw food. We give them a whole raw egg in the shell which they think is great fun to kick around the garden until it breaks! :)

Hi,

my lot are fed a bone meal in the morning which will be chicken carcass, lamb neck, pork ribs etc and then and raw mince meal with kibble in the evening, minces include beef, lamb, tripe, chicken, turkey, hearts, lungs absolutely everything, really variety is the key to a good raw diet. i would never go back to tinned dog food!!!

I changed all mine over straight away with no real gentle introduction and had no problems at all and that was with 10 dogs at that time

Good luck, London will love you for it :)

I would really like to switch my two girls on to raw, but do have a little reservation.

They have been having chicken wings a couple of times a week for quite a long time, but occasionally they are sick the next day - bringing up quite sharp pieces of undigested bone, and once the younger one had a really painful moment passing a motion that had a sharp piece of bone in it. They eat the wings like lightning, and obviously love them. Is there anything I can do to make them eat more slowly or at least chew properly? Or should I forget wings and get something with more solid bone?

You could try smashing the wings with a hammer to break them up.

Hi lincolnimp

I had exactly the same problem when I switched to raw a good few years ago now. In the end I opted to feed minced chicken with bone. For larger, fully edible as opposed to recreational bones, I feed lamb ribs, which seem to be fully digested and keep teeth clean.

> You could try smashing the wings with a hammer to break them up

Yes, that is what I have started doing :)